


Daddy Issues

by Deepdivediva



Category: Hazbin Hotel (Web Series), Helluva Boss (Web Series)
Genre: Abuse, Angel Dust Adopts a kid, Angel Dust is a bad influence, Angel Dust pretty much adopts a teenager and is a bad parent, Angst, Daddy Issues, Drug Use, Forced Marriage, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Original Character(s), Other, Platonic Relationships, Poor Angel Dust (Hazbin Hotel), Protective Angel Dust (Hazbin Hotel), Rape/Non-con Elements, Sex Work, This takes place before the hazbin hotel pilot, Was originally an reader insert fic but just decided to go all out, tags are spoilery as hell
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:28:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25370116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deepdivediva/pseuds/Deepdivediva
Summary: Angel Dust has been in Hell long enough to know how to survive: keep your head down and your witty comebacks at the ready and you'll be just fine.Things change however when a mysterious young teen is literally dropped into his life, and it seems like all of hell is suddenly after her for a reason unknown to both of them.Taking pity on the kid, Angel Dust reluctantly helps to hide her, and now finds himself invested in the well-being of this total stranger. Taking on a parental role as the two begin to bond, but he knows that this can't last forever...After all if Angel Dust knows one thing about Hell it's that you can't get attached to anyone.
Relationships: Angel Dust (Hazbin Hotel) & Original Character(s), Angel Dust/Valentino (Hazbin Hotel), Angel Dust/Valentino/Vox (Hazbin Hotel), Charlie Magne/Vaggie
Comments: 10
Kudos: 63





	1. Paid Time Off

A/N: After some feedback I've decided to turn this from a reader insert fic into an OC-driven story, It's mostly told from Angel Dust's POV anyway so it won't actually effect the overall plot outline that much, if anything it will actually help with the overall flow of the story and help the character arcs move along better since I can give 'the kid' an actual defined personality. For those of you who are here mainly for Angel Dust being a bad foster parent, don't worry. This is still Angel Dust's story, after all and won't effect any of the plans I had for this fic.

____________________________________

There was a few things Pandora could remember about that morning...

Looking in the mirror and taking note of how ashy her usually dark skin had been getting, she hadn't been moisturizing lately. 

Tying her kinky black hair up into a bun, wishing that she had the patience to just let her mom braid it. 

Wasting five minutes of her morning looking for a USB key she had to bring to school for a project, and finally finding it hidden under her desk. 

An argument with her mom over something dumb, something so, so dumb that ended with her storming out of the house angrily, and saying a few words she wished she could take back. 

And not looking both ways as she decided to book it across a street on their way to school, the loud screeching of tires... And then that was that. 

And next she remembered falling...

____________________________________________________

Angel stood at a street corner, leaning against a heavily graffitied brick wall as he took another drag off his cigarette.  
Things were slow today, what was usually a busy street was pretty empty, not that he minded. If he was being honest with himself, he didn't really feel like working today, all he wanted to do was go home, crawl into bed and watch bad sitcoms while finishing off an entire tub of strawberry ice cream.  
Angel sighed, yeah that would be nice, he could sure as hell use a day off...Not like Val had been letting him take any recently.

Thoughts of time spent relaxing in bed was cut short by a large demon blue with multiple eyes all over his body walking by and catching the spider demon's attention. Angel threw the cigarette to the ground, crushing it under his boot to put it out. Time to get to work.

"Hey there~". Angel said, fluttering his lashes at the demon as he walked by. "You looking for something? A good time perhaps?" 

"Fuck off f@got." The demon snarled, not even glancing at the spider as he walked by. 

Angel frowned, and sighed again, defeated. Usually he would have something witty to say back, but today he was just to tired to care. The spider demon slumped back against the brick wall, taking out his phone from his pocket to check the time, maybe see if Val had messaged him saying that he could go home now. It was hard to think with all this screaming!-Wait, screaming?  
That's what it sounded like anyway, a scream that was far off in the distance but getting louder, and louder and-oh.

Angel looked up just in time to see a demon come crashing down at full force-hitting the pavement of the sidewalk with a loud 'THUMP!' Causing the screaming to come to a sudden stop, as the demon who had just fallen from the sky now laid groaning on the ground. Angel however was unphased. He'd seen this enough times before to know what it was: a new arrival, a rookie, some poor soul who had just died and he really wasn't interested in answering the questions they usually came with, but it looked like he was about to get that role anyways. Lucky him.

"Uuugghhh." The demon moaned, peeling themselves off of the hard pavement of the sidewalk, rubbing their head. "Wha-where? Oooowww....". 

Angel took note of the demon's look, two small white wings sprouted from the side of their head where a human's ears would normally be, he couldn't actually see if she had any ears as she had thick long white kinky hair that matched the color of the wings that hid the sides of her head. Her skin was a dark grey, and in place of human feet, Angel noticed two hooves.  
All things considered she didn't get saddled with to bad of a body, especially considering how some of the sinners around here looked.

"My head...". The demon mumbled, looking around. "Where....wha-OH!" She jumped back a little in surprise upon seeing Angel Dust, who stared back at her unimpressed, then flashed her a smug little smile.

"Like what ya see kid?" He teased, feeling a little gross for doing it, ugh come on this was obviously someone who was underage, what was with him today?

"Who-what? Where? Y-Your-!" The girl stumbled through her words, before finally spouting out a proper sentence. "What are you!?"

"Oh who me? Well I'm a hooker obviously." The spider demon said, continuing to tease her. "Though, I prefer the term 'sex worker'."

"You-your."

Angel Dust laughed and rolled his eyes. "I'm a demon kid."

"De-demo....". The girl continued to try and create proper sentences.

"Demon." Angel repeated. 

"De...mon...Demon-but....But that means that-." 

"It means ya fucking died kid." Angel Dust spouted out before the girl even has a chance to properly finish the thought. 

"What? Dead, no, no, no I can't be dead, I have a history report due today, it was a group project I-I put together the slide show! I have the USB key!" 

Angel Dust burst out into laughter. "WOW! Priorities ya'little fucking nerd!" 

"It's called responsibility!" The kid spat back, placing their hands on their hips and getting to their feet, their confidence fading in an instant when they noticed their new set of hooves. "GAH!!!" 

The spider demon continued to laugh as the girl freaked out over her new set of legs-and other body parts she was beginning to realize she'd gained. "What are these!?" She shouted, the wings on the side of her head flapping as she freaked out, drawing her attention to them. "WHAT ARE THESE!?" The girl grabbed the two wings with both her hands as she spoke, as if attempting to keep them still, they seemed to have a mind of their own. 

"Hhmm...looks like wings." Angel grinned. "Hey ya think if ya flap'em hard enough you could fly? Or are they just a decorative thing?" 

"Uuugghh this isn't funny!" The girl shouted back at him. "I don't know what the heck these things are, or how I got them-I don't even know where I am!" 

"Hell." Angel Dust said flatly, waiting for her to put two and two together. Honestly, he wasn't usually into teasing newbies like a lot of other demons were but watching this kid have a little freak out was the best thing about his day so far.

"Right hell...H-HELL!?" The sudden realization hit her like a ton of bricks, her eyes now wide and alert as she looked at the large Pentagram looming over them in the sky. "No, no, no, no NO! This-this can't be hell!"

"Yup, thats the name don't wear it out-everyone else already does." 

"But-but I can't be in hell!" The kid protested. "I'm a good person! I like-study and-and I do my homework on time, and I walk Ms.O'neils dog because she's to old, and-and-." 

Angel watched unimpressed as the kid stumbled their way through a number of reasons for why they were 'good', eventually he'd heard enough and decided to cut her off. 

"And-and I volunteered that one time at the animal shelter-and I-I-." 

"Alright kid, Jeez, desperate much?" Angel said with a cocky little grin. "I don't know what'cha did to end up down here but lemme tell ya'somethin: it's easier than ya think it is to end up as a cursed soul." The girl stared at him as he spoke, or at least in his direction, her eyes seemed distant and lost, something about them gave Angel a strange feeling. She looked like a million different things were going through her head at the moment-and they probably were. 

"But...But I'm a good person." She said slowly.

"Well obviously not as good as you thought ya were huh?" Angel chuckled. "Now scam kid, can't you see I'm trying to work here?"

The kid blinked a few times, as if snapping out of whatever thoughts she'd gotten lost in. "Huh? Wait-where...what do I do? Where do I go? Can I go back? I'm supposed to be home by five, my mom's gonna get worried." 

Angel's smile faded, ah fuck right, this was a kid she probably had parents and stuff. "Well I got good news for you if you hated your mom." 

"I don't hate my mom!" The girl said defensively, looking angry with the spider demon for even saying such a thing. 

"Welp-either way the good news is you probably won't be having any kind of curfews for-eh depending on how old she was-let's say another possible hhmmmm thirty to forty years?" The spider demon grinned as he did the math. 

"...What?" 

"If she ends up down here that is, ya know, might get lucky and have her go straight to heaven and just never have to see her again."

"How is that good news!" The girl exclaimed. Angel dust shrugged. 

"Sounds like good news to me-parents are kinda the worst, consider yourself lucky, do you know how many kids are dying to get away from their parents-Oops!" Angel dust put a hand up to his mouth as he grinned. "Bad choice of words."

There were a few moments of silence between the two of them, as if she was waiting to wake up from a dream. "What....what do I do?" She asked, looking to the spider demon for any sort of guidance. 

"Not my problem, now get lost kid. I got bills to pay'n'work to do." 

"But-." "I said beat it already, what do you want a fuckin'care package? This is hell kid, figure shit out yourself." 

The kid didn't say another word, instead taking a few moments to stare at the demon with those wide, lost eyes before looking up at the Pentagram that hung over the city. She looked like she was lost in a dream, unsure if any of this was even real. Taking a few moments to look out over the street before crossing it, walking slowly, unsure of where to go or what to do. She looked so lost...

Angel didn't like to think about the day he arrived in hell, but he never seemed to be able to push the memories far back enough to totally forget about them. The feelings were still vivid enough in his mind: how lost he had felt, how utterly alone he was. Angel took another look at the girl, even as a demon it was pretty obvious she couldn't have been older than fourteen. Feeling a small twinge of pity for her, Angel sighed and rolled his eyes. "The Registry."

"What?" The girl looked back over her shoulder, straight at the demon.

<  
p>"The Registry, if ya want a place to stay go there, they'll help set you up and see if they can find a job for ya, an overlord you can work under, that sorta thing. It's just north of the pentagram, big building, huge line, ya can't miss it."

The girl glanced up to the large Pentagram in the sky, then back down to the street she was on, looking both ways and then back to the demon, still confused. 

Jesus did he have to spell it out for her? Angel sighed loudly, just to let her know how much of a pain she was being, and pointed down an small alleyway that lead to another street. "North." 

The newbie nodded as she turned to leave, still looking as confused and lost as ever, every step she took was uncertain, before entering the alleyway she stopped and looked back to the spider demon. "Uhm thank you?" She said with a little uneasy smile.

"Whatever, get lost." Angel replied, not even bothering to look at her, as he lit another cigarette. Inhaling deeply and letting out a puff of smoke before glancing over where the kid had been. 

She was gone. 

"....Good luck kid." He said to himself. "You're gonna fucking need it."

He didn't have to much time to think about it, spotting a wasp-demon coming down the street with a buddy of his, a mostly purple demon with a skull for a head, and spikes going down his back. 

'Right.' He thought to himself as he approached his two new targets. 'Back to work.' 

"You boys looking for a fun time~?" 

_____________________________________________________

Not even a full hour had come to pass before a familiar limo pulled up to the corner where he was working, a car Angel had come to dread. 

One of the back windows rolling down slowly, as red smoke poured out into the open air. A pair of heart-shaped glasses reflected the light off them, giving the away the obvious. 

"Oh Angel~." A silky smooth voice rang out, as a hand reached out of the window, as if expecting him to place something in it. "Shifts over."

Angel took a deep breath before forcing a smile as he walked over to the open window, taking out a small wad of cash from his pocket and holding it out, placing it into Val's open hand. 

Val smirked as he took the wad of cash and flipped through it, counting the bills in a matter of seconds. "A bit light on funds today are we?"

Angel tensed up. "Yeah well, heh, I'm dealing with a bunch of fuckin'cheapskates over here, a guy before wanted a deal on-." 

"Excuses, excuses." Valentino tsked, with that smug little look Angel despised in the same way he despised an alarm clock going off in the morning. "Angel baby, honestly you can do better." 

"I...I know Val." He sighed, averting his gaze from the pimp's wandering eyes. 

"Lucky for you I'm feeling generous today, so I'm gonna give you another chance to prove yourself-right now: consider this 'overtime'. You don't mind working another few hours, now do you?" 

The spider demon shook her head, staring at the ground, doing anything to avoid having to look Val in the eyes. "No daddy."

"Good boy." Val chuckled, a 'ding' from the pimps phone suddenly caught his attention as he looked away for a moment, staring at whatever notification he had just received. "Oh, and I want you to be on the lookout for something Angel cakes." 

Angel sighed while rolling his eyes, tired of Val's lame jokes, he'd heard this one at least a dozen times before. "Yeah-yeah I know: dick to su-." 

The moth demon quickly interrupted him. "That too but no-be on the lookout for a demon."

Angel raised an eyebrow, it was unusual for Val to ask anything of him that wasn't related to sex work. "What kind of demon?" He asked.

"A very valuable one." Valentino said, holding up his phone to show Angel what he had just been looking at.

Angel's eyes widened. Displayed on the phone's screen was a wanted poster of some kind, showing a demon with dark grey skin, and those stupid wings coming from their head where their ears should have been, a familiar pair of golden eyes didn't stare directly at him, but instead looked around lost. 

The kid. 

The photo wasn't that great quality, in fact it looked like whoever had taken it had obviously done so without permission, it was slightly blurry and looked as if it had been zoomed in on to get a better look at the subject. His eyes wandered down to the text underneath the photo, but instead of a name there was simply a large number Angel imminently recognized as reward money. "Whoa! What the heck did the kid do? Must have really pissed somebody off to get a sum that large on your head!" 

"It's not about what she did it's about what she'll do-and who wants her." Valentino said. 

"Who wants her?" Angel asked cautiously, this all seemed a bit odd to him, this was only a kid, and she'd only been in hell for less than an hour if he was remembering the time correctly. though it wasn't unheard of to target the living and 'speed up the process'. If someone wanted to get their hands on someone else, it was as simple as hiring the right people to do the job. "Whats so great about 'little miss wing-things?'" 

"That's none of your concern." Valentino said, taking his phone away from Angel's view. "What is your concern is that she was recently spotted in this area."

Angel froze up for a moment, getting nervous as Val stared at him through those stupid heart-shaped sunglasses.

"You wouldn't have happened to see anything Angel Cakes?" 

"...No." Angel said nervously, trying his best to make it seem like he wasn't lying. It then hit him-why the fuck was he even bothering to lie in the first place?  
'Just tell him the truth dumbass!' He thought, but knew that it was to late now, he couldn't be caught lying or Val would find a fitting punishment for him. "Haven't seen anyone like that before. If I did I would have told ya, I mean with a bounty that big I would like to get my hands on a chunk of that change."  
He was talking to much, he always did this when he was working his way through a lie, fuck, he needed to find some way to change the subject.  
"I just wanna know what a wimpy looking dork like that did to piss someone off enough to put a bounty on their head. No offense Val but-you don't exactly seem like the kind who's usually into collecting reward money." He said, crossing his arms, giving the pimp a little bit of attitude in an attempt to look more confident and less suspicious. 

"Consider this a 'special case'." Val replied, not even looking at Angel as he began to text someone on his phone. "If you are to see her, you are to alert me imminently, I can pass the information along to someone who can actually bring her to me." 

A silence followed as Angel Dust tried to put the pieces together, all of this was highly suspect at least to him. Sure, it was a big reward to Angel but to Val-well he had money, what would he want with a reward like this? Did he just want the kid herself? No that couldn't be it, it must have been one of the other overlords or something who wanted her, or at least someone who could afford to throw away money, but who would put a bounty out on some dorky little tween? 

"Alright Val, alright...I'll text you if I see anything...Hey uh, whoever wants this kid. They're not gonna like...Idk hurt'em or anything?" Ah crap, why the hell did he say that?! Why did he even fucking care about this?!

Val stopped texting for a moment and gave Angel a strange look, staring at him for a few moments before chuckling. "Trust me Angel, no harm will come to them. Think of them more as a package that someone simply 'misplaced'. Believe me when I say the sooner that girl is found the safer she'll be. Not that it's any of your concern." 

'Must be a family member after all'. Angel thought to himself. 'Only family would put down that kind of money to have you delivered to them safe and unharmed'. 

That sounded nice, the idea of family that was willing to take care of you, to look out for you... Angel Dust shook his head, ugh, there he was getting all mopey again, he didn't have time to think about this kinda shit, the point is the kid would be fine with whoever wanted her, meaning there was no shame in turning her in. 

"Of course, sorry Val. Forget my place sometimes ya know-I'll let ya know if I see anythin'k?" He said quickly, and with another forced smile, trying to say whatever he could to make the pimp leave. 

"Just keep an eye out." Val said as the limo's tinted window slowly began to roll up again. "Oh and Angel darling-you talk too much. Maybe work on finding other uses for that mouth?" The pimp laughed as the window finally shut, and the limousine began to drive away.

Angel waited until he saw the limo leave his line of sight before raising up all four of his hands, showing off his middle finger on each of them. "Yeah well fuck you." He muttered to himself, knowing that there was no way Val could see him and that it was a useless gesture, but it made him feel a little better none the less.

"Now." He said to himself as he began to to book it across the street. "Time for me to earn some time off."

Angel Dust ran, heading in the same direction he had sent the kid in. He was half tempted to collect the reward money for himself but knew there was no way he could ever get away with that, especially since he had no idea who even wanted her. 

No, his best bet was just to deliver the kid straight to Val, who would be so thrilled to have his next meal ticket that he might actually let Angel have some time off, and maybe if he was lucky a small percentage of that reward money. But he would have to be quick, if a reward that big was on this kids head there was no doubt that others were already looking for her, demons who actually knew what they were doing. 

Lucky for him he had a leg-up on all these other bounty hunters. 

He knew where the kid was heading.


	2. Chapter 2

She hadn't fully processed it all just yet, a part of her was still convinced that she'd be home later that night. Death wasn't a concept most people dealt with well, and to have it happen so suddenly, without any warning, was jarring to say the least.

Just like the demon had told her she had no trouble finding the registry, a tall,dark, and all around gloomy looking building which seemed to tower over everything else that surrounded it. A lineup of demons waiting impatiently to get inside wrapped around several blocks, Pandora stared up at the tower and then back to the line, letting out a defeated little sigh before taking her place at the back, it seemed that she would be here for quite awhile....

As usual the streets of Pentagram city were absolutely packed, luckily, Angel Dust's tall and lanky body allowed him to swerve and dodge other demons as he ran in the same direction he'd sent the kid in, only bumping into one or two people on the way, both of whom had yelled a number of profanities Angel had heard before.  
He wasn't exactly one to care about that kind of stuff, he had much thicker skin than most people assumed, but especially today he didn't have time to stop and decide if the insults were personal enough or not, he had a kid to catch and a bounty to collect.

He panted heavily, stopping for a second when he saw the registry off in the distance, noticing the usual long-line up of newcomers, poor fucks who would have to wait hours, if not days in line to actually be registered as citizens of hell.   
His eyes moved across the line as he walked along beside it, looking for his target.

It didn't take long for Angel to pick her out among the crowd of demons, she was rather short when compared to the much taller and lankier demon who stood in front of her, looking equally nervous. Heck everyone in the line seemed confused and out of place, a few of them either mumbling to themselves, or studying their new bodies as Angel walked past, none of them even looking up to gawk at him, something he wasn't to used to. It was far to common for eyes to follow him, a feeling Angel had grown accustom to.

"Hey kid!" He exclaimed, running up behind her and placing a hand on her shoulder, turning her around before she got the chance to do it herself.

"HEY! No cutting!" Another demon farther down in the line shouted.

"Don't have an aneurysm grandma I'm just here to talk!" Angel Dust spat back.

Pandora blinked, looking up at the spider demon, obviously confused as to what he was doing here. "Oh-it's uh you?" She said slowly. 

"Heeey kid, look I know I was kinda rude before-ya caught me on a bit of an off day. I wanna make it up to ya."

"You do?" 

"Of course I fuckin'do. I mean after all, this is Hell, there's a lotta freaks'n'weirdos out here." He gestured to the demon's in the line, the one who had accused him of cutting still glared angrily at the two of them. "People like you'n'me we gotta look out for each other."

The girl looked around, and then back to the demon in front of her, unsure of exactly what Angel wanted from her. "I uhm...okay?".

"Great! Now c'mon, lets get going." Suddenly and without warning he grabbed her by the arm, forcefully pulling her out of the line.

"Wait! What about the registry?"

Angel froze for a second, looking up at the tower and then back to the kid. "Oh what this place? No, no, no, kid, this place is for chumps. You don't wanna actually be put under contract by an overlord do'ya?" He asked her.

"But you said that-."

"I know what I said!" Angel said a little bit louder and more aggressive than he had meant to, taking a moment to regain his composure. "What I mean is-that was what I said back when I was messin'around with ya, having a bit of fun. There's more than one way to fry a fish if you know what I mean."

Pandora blinked slowly, it was obvious that she knew something was up, but was either to nervous, or polite, or heck both, to say anything directly.  
"I uhm...I think I'm just gonna stay here, Mr....uuhhmmmm, 'Angel Dust'?" She said slowly, not sure if she was remembering that correctly. 

Stay here? Yeah, no way, that wasn't an option, and Angel was defiantly not going to let it happen when he had her right in his grasp.  
"Look kid-." Angel began. "You need to come with-."

*BOOM*

A sudden loud noise rang out as an explosion went off right beside the two of them, the force of the explosion knocked Angel to the ground as several other more unfortunate demons were caught up in the-to be honest relatively small explosion.

They would be fine, you couldn't die twice, but you sure as hell could get pretty fucked up.

It seemed like the new arrivals who were waiting in line hadn't quite figured that out yet, as the crowd screamed in terror and began to run for their lives-well 'un-lives' if we're being picky about terminology here.

Angel coughed and squinted his eyes, trying to see through the thick cloud of dust that the explosion had created. Spotting a and looming figure not to far away, carrying what looked like a rocker launcher of all things on his shoulder, slowly walking towards them, he was absolutely massive and built like a brick wall. Each step he took make the ground shake beneath him.

'Ah fuck.' Angel thought to himself. 'Here comes trouble...'.

Angel Dust was so focused on the massive demon that the sound of a gunshot rining out surprised him, stricking the huge demon in the shoulder, and throwing him off his balance, as he stumbled and roared, more so furious than in pain.

"Back off." A voice said, it was yet another bounty hunter, much more slender and smaller this time, looking like more of an imp than a demon. "That's MY target." The imp growled, still aiming his gun at the rival bounty hunter.

'Oh well thats just great.' Angel Dust thought as he slowly got back to his feet, it looks like he had some competition for the kid...the kid-FUCK where was that brat!? Angel looked around at, some demons were running, others lay on the ground, groaning in pain, in disbelief that they had somehow survived in one-or in a few cases 'two' pieces. "KID!? KI-*cough* KID!!??" Angel Dust shouted, looking around frantically, finally spotting her only a few feet away from himself. 

She lay on the ground, sitting up and looking at the two bounty hunters in complete shock, not moving, not saying anything, just staring at them with her mouth open, like a fish taken out of water.

"Kid!" Angel cried in relief, running over to her and grabbing her by the arm, forcing the girl to her feet. "C'mon we gotta run, those two won't be at each others throats forever." He warned, trying to pull her away, glancing up to see that the two bounty hunters still seemed to be in a sort of 'standoff'. That was good, it would buy him some time.

"W-whats going on?" Pandora stammered, still in a state of shock, after everything that had happened to her today, her mind still hadn't caught up with the fact that she was dead, let alone in hell, and now...as far as she knew, she'd almost died a second time. Her mind was drawing a blank on just about everything that was going on, and she didn't know what to do or how to react.

"I'll explain on the way, we just have to get out of here and FAST!" Angel Dust pulled her away just as the dust around them began to properly settle, leaving the two of them exposed and out in the open, he pulled her along by the sleeve of her school uniform, heading for the nearest alleyway the two could duck into.

Even as Pandora ran she still found herself glancing over her shoulder, staring back at the two bounty hunters, who were now fighting with each other, watching as the much larger one aimed his rocket launcher at the imp and fired it. Another loud BOOM could be heard as another explosion went off, barely missing the imp, who ran around with his own weapon, trying to get a good shot at the demon. 

Angel noticed this and saw the shocked expression on her face, he tugged on her sleeve a little roughly to get her attention in hopes of getting her to look away from the brawl. "Hey, don't look back kid, c'mon just follow me!" 

The two of them finally ducked into an alleyway as Angel tried to navigate and figure out where exactly they were and how to get the kid to Val as quick as possible. Those two wouldn't be fighting each other forever, and there was no doubt that they weren't the only one's looking for the kid. The two of them came to a stop when Angel shoved her behind a dumpster in an attempt to hide her, looking around to see if anyone had followed them....

No one.

Heh, that had almost been to easy.

"Who...?" Pandora muttered, trying to find the words to say what she wanted to. "Who was that?!"

"Don't know em'personally kid, buuuttt if I had to guess I'd say those two were bounty hunters."

"BOUNTY HUNTERS!?" She exclaimed, her golden eyes growing wide. "THOSE WERE-MMPPH!" 

Angel quickly clapped one of his four hands down over her mouth. "Hey! Keep it quiet ya hear me? What do you want those two to find us?"  
With one hand still over her mouth the kid shook her head, and Angel took his hand away. "Good." He sighed, digging around in his pocket, looking for his phone. It wasn't safe to travel directly to the studio, looks like he would have to call Val and let them know where they were so he could come pick them up.   
Val would be so pleased with reciving the kid, he wouldn't even mind that Angel had left work a little early.

"...Who..were they after?" Pandora asked, in a much softer tone, looking up at the demon as he dug around in his pockets.

"Huh? Oh-uhm...you." Angel told her nonchalantly.

"Oh....WAIT WHAT?!

"What did I LITERALLY JUST SAY?!" Angel snapped at her, finally pulling out his phone.

"Why-why would they be after me? I just got here!?"

Angel Dust shrugged. "Beats me kid, but uh-those two aren't gonna be the only one's after ya. I hate to break it to you but there's a pretty large bounty on your head." He stopped himself, realizing that telling her this was gonna make him seem more suspicious to her, fuck he needed to think of a lie quick. "...Which is uh-why I came to warn ya, I know for a fact that you just got here so there's no way ya could have done anything that bad....yet." Angel pressed the 'on button' of his phone, waiting for it to power up. "I may be in Hell-but I ain't heartless! You're just a kid-ya don't deserve ta'be-." He trailed off, realizing that his phone wasn't turning on, and pressing the button again, and again, and again, finally something appeared on the screen: a red battery with a large '0%' written inside of it.  
The phones battery was dead. "FUCK!" 

The kid shot him judgmental look, obviously annoyed that after telling her to be quiet he wasn't following the same rules. "What's wrong?"

"Huh? Oh-oh, uh, nothin'kid don't you worry about it. We just gotta find a place to keep'ya safe until this whole thing blows over." He lied, not even looking at her as she stared at him, not quite satisfied with that answer.

"You can quit calling me 'kid'." She said, a little bitter. It was the first time she'd given him real attitude, but it didn't seem to phase the spider demon, who was to preoccupied with figuring out what to do next. "It's rude, I have a name you know, It's Pandora, Pandora Maseko."

"Yeah, yeah sure Panda-whatever." Angel muttered, currently distracted as he looked around, the studio was to far for them to possibly reach safely...but his apartment was much closer, if they could manage to reach the next street they could take a few back alleys there, and if they were careful, possibly escape unseen.

"Pandora!" She corrected him, not seeming to notice the fact that the demon had other things on his mind.

Finally deciding on a proper route, Angel looked around the alleyway, spotting a crumpled up paper bag laying near the dumpster. He promptly picked it up and shoved it over the kids head without a second thought.

"HEY!" 

Angel looked her up and down. "Not much but it'll at least hide your face." He said, once again grabbing her by the arm and beginning to drag her off. "Now c'mon let's get go-." He suddenly felt the kid pull away from him, and looked behind him, just in time to see her stumble back a little bit and almost lose her balance.

She lifted off the paper bag, and glared at him, angrily.

"No! I'm not going anywhere with you until you tell me what exactly is going on!" She shouted, ignoring his warning about keeping quiet. The wings on her head flapping angrily, as if they were emoting with her.

"Look kid now's not the time for-."

"I have had a VERY bad morning." Pandora continued, cutting Angel Dust off. "And I want to know whats going on!"

Angel Dust was usually a bit more patient, but right now this kid was really getting on his nerves. "Well that makes to of us then, because I don't know!" He turned around to speak with her, looking down at her and realizing just how small she was compared to him, it was something he hadn't quite noticed until now, but she was only about half his size. "All I know, is that half of Hell is gonna be looking for ya-and I don't know what they'll do to you once they find you." He told her, watching her shrink back a little at the thought.   
'Good'. He told himself. Maybe if she was a little scared, she'd be more compliant. "Look, this isn't how I saw my day going either, but right now I'm the only friend you got and I'm on your side...remember that." He told her, watching as she thought for a moment.

"...Why do you want to help me?" She finally asked, staring up at him, no longer angry or upset, but just confused and uneasy.

"Eh, not sure." He said, leaning down so that he was finally at eye-level with the kid, feeling a twinge of sympathy for her, but reminding himself that Val had told him she'd be safe with whoever had wanted her, even if he was lying to her face things would be better for everyone in the end. "I guess I just got a soft-spot for kids."

Before Pandora could respond, Angel glanced up, his eyes growing wide as he pushed her to the side, then quickly dodged out of the way of an oncoming bullet, which skimmed the left side of his suit, tearing a small but noticeable hole. Fuck, and this was his favorite suit...

On the roof above them was (what Angel assumed to be) another bounty hunter, this one was snake-like with two long fangs and arms that help a sniper rifle of some kind.  
'Idiots'. He thought, the bounty wanted her unharmed, and all these dumb-asses were shooting at her...It was then Angel Dust realized that they weren't shooting at her...they were shooting at him.

Ah shit.

Seeing where the sniper was, Angel managed to doge another round of bullets, before looking back to see that the kid was still on the ground, staring up at the sniper with wide fearful eyes, she hadn't quite caught on to the same realization he had just had yet.

Good.

"Fucking run!" Angel Dust shouted, he didn't have to tell the kid twice, man she was actually pretty fast. Guess being shot at was great motivation.

The sound of gunshots rang out behind them, but somehow, by some stroke of luck the two seemed to have lost the 'sniper viper', as Angel Dust decided to call him.  
But they didn't stop running, they couldn't stop running, the kid finally seemed to realize what kind of danger she was in, and wasn't asking questions anymore.

"We-we gotta find a place to hide!" Pandora panted as she ran, running out of breath. "Like a-a library! No wait, uh police? Do you have a police station down here? No....". She tried to list off a number of locations, none of which seemed like good hiding spots.

"No, no I know a place." Angel explained. "We'll both be safe there, trust me on this."

_________________________

It had taken what seemed like forever to reach his apartment building, smuggling her into the building was easier than either of them had expected it to be, Angel had 'clients' over at his place all the time, so walking in an anonymous demon with a bag over their head, wasn't anything out of the ordinary for his neighbors. They probably assumed it was just another demon who didn't want their wife knowing where they had been...

Frantically unlocking the door, Angel herded the kid inside, slamming it shut behind them, and quickly locking it back up, staring through the peephole to make sure that they hadn't been followed. 

"Alright...okay I think we're in the clear." He said, letting out a sigh of relief, turning back around to see the kid remove the paper bag from her head, as she looked around the apartment. 

"...Is this...your place?" She asked, the tone of her voice a little off as she spoke, her eyes stared at the one-room studio apartment, with it's faded pink walls, and moldy-almost 'stale' smell. It was obvious that she was trying to find something nice to say about it in an attempt not to offend the demon. "It's uhm...quaint?" Pandora said, forceing a little smile, which faded when she saw a box of dildo's and other sex toys laying around on the floor, only now seeming to notice that a few of them were strewn about the room in the same way one would leave dirty socks lying around. 

"Yeah, yeah, don't patronize me kid." Angel said, walking over to his dresser and grabbing his phone charger and plugging it in, seeing the screen instantly turn on. Perfect, now all he had to do was get into contact with Val, and he could finally get this fucking kid off his hands, she had better been worth the trouble.

His thoughts were interrupted however with a loud SHRIEK of delight that caught him off-guard, making him jump, as he turned around to see Pandora with the biggest, goofiest grin on her face.

"Is that a pig!?" She gasped, only now spotting Angel's pet, sleeping in his own little bed, curled up in the corner of the room. The sound of her voice seemed to wake him up from his sleep as he let out a little 'snort' in surprise, and looked over at the two.

"That's Fat-Nuggets." Angel told her, as he tried to text Val. "Don't touch hi-."

"He's sooooo cuuutttteeee! C'mere boy!" Pandora extended her arms, petting Fat-Nuggets who didn't seem to mind the extra attention. "I love pigs! They're literally like my favorite animal! I asked mom a dozen times if we could get one but she always said no-even though they're smarter than dogs." She picked the Hell-pig and held it out, beginning to speak in high-pitched baby voice people only used when speaking to pets. "Isn't that right boy? Are you smarter than a dog? Yes you are! Yes you are!" 

Angel cracked a little smile as he watched her, snapping back to reality when he felt his phone vibrate, looking down at the screen to see that Val had replied. Well now was as good a time as any-at least the kid was distracted.

Val: Angel baby? Why are you bothering daddy at work?

Angel: Cuz I have something that I think will make u very, very happy ;)

Val: Is that so?

Angel: Yup, but if u gotta come over to my place. 

Val: Don't play games with me Angel.

Angel: I'm not playing games sir.  
And if U come over, maybe we can have a little fun while you're here. U seemed so stressed earlier, wouldn't it be nice to blow off some steam?

Angel Dust almost gagged as he sent the last text, he wasn't actually intending on doing anything with Val, but at this point he would say about anything to get him here, knowing Val would forget about it once he saw that Angel had delivered the kid to him.

Val: I'll be there in fifteen minutes, this better be good.

He smiled, putting his phone on his dresser and looking back at the kid, who was now laying on the bed, holding up Fat-Nuggets high in the air above her. "Who's the cutest little piggy-wiggy? IT'S YOU! You are!" 

Fat-Nuggets let out a little 'OINK!' as she brought him in for a hug. 

"You're so cute!"

"Alright easy there, give him some space you're gonna stress him out." Angel said, walking over to the bed and squatting down, taking the pig from her and petting him a few times before placing him on the ground. 

The two of them watched as the pig made his way back over to his own bed, once again taking up residence in the corner of the room.

"...So what now?" Pandora finally asked, after a bit of silence between the two. "I mean what do we...do exactly?"

"I'm gonna be honest with ya kid." Angel said, sitting on the bed next to her, for a moment he felt like telling her the truth, that Val would be here any moment to take her off to whoever really wanted her, her family probably, dead relatives who had made it big and wanted her brought to them safely. "....I don't actually know. I didn't think we'd get this far."

An empty silence filled the air, lasting only a few seconds but seeming like hours. 

"Am I really dead?" She asked.

It was a question Angel himself had remembered asking on his first day in Hell, but no one had ever answered it properly, leaving him to come to the conclusion himself...alone.  
"I mean-yeah kinda-well not kinda-yeah you are." He clumsily tripped over his words, trying to find a way to put it gently and failing miserably.

"Is this Hell? Like really Hell?"

"Well it defiantly ain't heaven." He chuckled nervously.

"....I didn't think I was that bad I-I always...I mean I've done bad stuff." Pandora said slowly, staring down at the floor, trying to process everything that had happened today. "But nothing that bad...I think-I don't know."

"Hey! Look, I know we're in literal Hell but it's not that bad. Heck it's like a never-ending party down here. There's booze'n'drugs-I know some shit that'll REALLY fuck you up. Not only that, but we also got the hottest clubs in all of the afterlife! Non-stop action and excitement, a million taboo things to do and no one judging ya for it!" He described the details of the afterlife to her as if trying to sell a product, as if this was part of some vacation package she could come back from. 

"But what if I don't like any of that stuff?" Pandora stared at her hooves, still not quite used to the way they looked. They were strange to look at, way to big, and way to heavy, another thing she would have to get used to. 

"Well then you're shit outta luck." Angel chuckled, realizing his little joke hadn't exactly landed. "Ey chin'up kid. You'll learn to like it, everyone does eventually." He placed a hand on her shoulder, doing his best to console her, even if he could tell he wasn't exactly doing a good job. "Before ya know it you'll be doing all kinds of weird shit every night! And once you're back with you're family you'll be in an even better place to go o-."

"My family?"

Angel froze up, realizing he'd said to much. "Uhm, what I meant was like-not your real family obviously-I mean unless ya got any dead relatives-which I mean ya probably do! Everyone's got someone who died-I mean most of everyone-I mean. 

Pandora stared at Angel as he rambled his way through his little slip-up, when a sudden knock at the door frighted both of them, Angel looked at the time on his phone, only five minutes had passed since he last texted Val...either he was very early or someone else had found them.

"Kid get in the closet." He said slowly, taking her hand and leading her over to the closet door. Opening it quickly and pushing some cloths out of the way so she would have some room to stand inside, the closet was beyond crowded, with all of his outfits hastily crammed into one small space.

"Aw but I just came out." She said with a little smirk on her face, as Angel forced her inside.

"Oh so now you have a sense of humor?" 

Pandora shrugged, and Angel rolled his eyes. "Whatever, just keep your mouth shut, no matter what okay?" He told her shutting the door, the kid wasn't half bad, heck at this point she'd adapt to Hell in no time.

Another knock at the door reminded him of what he was doing. "Yeah, yeah I'm coming!" He shouted as he walked back over to the dresser, opening his underwear drawer and pushing them all aside to reach the hidden gun at the bottom, then slowly moving towards the door and looking through the peephole to check to see who it was...All he saw was a puff of red smoke, blocking the face of whoever was standing outside. Not like he needed anything else to confirm who it was.

Angel let out a sigh of relief as he pocketed the gun, making sure to change his mood and tone of voice before opening the door.

"Hey daddy." He said with a smile.

Val didn't even at him, instead walking right past Angel as entered the small studio apartment and studying it. "Damn, you really live like this?" He finally said with a deep chuckle.

"Heh...yeah guess I do...". Angel forced himself to laugh in agreement, glancing over at the closet and then back to the moth demon. "I had something to-

"I was VERY surprised to get that text from you Angel baby~." Valentino spoke with that smooth, sensual voice of his that gave most people a false sense of security. "I'm honestly surprised to see you here....at home, especially considering you're supposed to be working the streets right now."

"I know boss, but I have a really good reason for-."

"It had better be a good reason, after all I was in the middle of a VERY important conversation with someone when all of a sudden I get a text, telling me to 'come over', and that it's 'urgent'."

"It is urge-."

"I mean you wouldn't leave work early without a good reason, now would you?" 

"Of course no-."

"It would have to be a very important matter, for you to call me away from my business so suddenly, and force me to come to your filthy little home, now wouldn't it?" Val said, smiling but Angel could feel the anger behind his words.

"Y-yes sir, very impor-."

Val forcefully grabbed Angel by the face before he could finish his sentence, dragging him forward, holding him up very slightly off the ground so that the spider was on the tips of his toes. "So tell me Angel darling, just what was so important?"

"I know where the girl is!" Angel shouted out in a panic.

There was a long silence before Val finally let go of Angel, who stumbled back a little, catching himself before he was about to fall.

"I-I saw her." He continued.

"Oh?" Val's entire tone of voice and attitude suddenly changed, perking up a bit and becoming much more gentle as he approached Angel. "Really now? Why didn't you say anything before?"

"I-I couldn't tell you over the phone see? I thought I should let ya know in person...just in case someone else was listening in." He lied, his eyes kept shifting back over to the closet, and his heart sank a little wondering just what was going through Pandora's mind right now.  
'Sorry kid'. He thought. 'This will be better for the both of us.' 

Val didn't seem to notice the spider-demon's little side-glances, to caught up in his own thoughts to pay much attention to him. "Well this is very good news indeed, you're actually our first lead in our search for her, the overlord who wants her hasn't even heard anything yet."

"Yeah well-." Angel stopped and thought for a moment, perhaps he hadn't heard that right. "Uhm...heh maybe I'm a little hard of hearing boss but did you just say overlord?"

"Oh yes." Val continued. "He is very interested in having his future bride brought to him as soon as possible."

"Well I guess that-W-wait! He wants to marry her?!" Angel exclaimed, he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Lucky little thing isn't she?" Val chuckled, amused at Angel's reaction to the news. 

"And uh-heh uhm-which overlord would that be?" Angel asked nervously. "I-I mean not I know her personally or'nothin but uh-isn't she just a normal kid? I mean there's tons of kids in hell already! He could have his pick of the litter." Angel almost gagged as those words left his mouth, the very thought of it made him sick. "Uh-ya know what I mean Val?"

"Angel, Angel, Angel-what did we talk about earlier today?" Val tsked. 

Angel was quiet for a moment, glancing down at the floor as he gave his answer in a much smaller voice. "Me talking to much."

"And?" Val asked with a twisted smile.

"And-and how this is none of my business."

"Good." Val chuckled. "Maybe if you repeat it enough times it'll actually manage to stick in that little drugged out head of yours." The pimp reached out and patted Angel Dust on the head like you would do with a dog, or a small child. "So tell me...just where EXACTLY did you see her Angel Cakes?" Val said, placing a hand underneath Angel's chin and tilting it up slightly, to make eye-contact with the spider demon. "You don't happen to know where she is now, do you?"

"I...". Angel began to answer but found that he was unable to, at the moment he was feeling at least a dozen emotions, all of them bad, nervousness, humiliation, fear, but most of all: guilt...  
'It wouldn't be so bad.' Angel told himself. 'Being married to an overlord, heck they were the most powerful beings in all of hell, you hook up with one of them your set for life-well 'death'.' But as Angel gazed into Valentino's red eyes, he knew that always came with a cost, a cost to high to put a kid through...   
"I uhm...".

"Well?" Val's tone shifted again as he grew impatient. "I'm waiting."

"She's uhm at the-."

"Spit it out already!"

"SHE'S HEADED FOR THE CLOCK TOWER!" Angel blurted out.

For a few moments it was as if time had stopped, you could cut the tension in the room with a knife as Val took in the information.

"The clock tower?"

"Ye-yeah." Angel nodded, stepping back from Val's grasp as the moth demon released him. "I uh-I saw her at the Registry while scoping out a better place to grab some uh 'clients', I tried speaking with her to convince her to come back with me to see you but some asshole with a freakin'bazooka scared her and everyone else off and well I-I lost her Val I'm sorry."

"Why would she be heading towards the clock tower?"

Angel Dust shrugged. "She just uhm, asked me about it while I was there and I pointed her in that direction, seemed pretty interested in it...so I figure if she'll be anywhere it would be there." It wasn't a complete lie, nearly everything in it was true...minus the losing her part of course...and the clock tower part...and maybe the reason as to why Angel had even been in the area in the first place-okay so it was a pretty big lie, but it's not like he could go back on it now.

"Well then, this is a very big lead-and you say you saw her at Registry? Are you absolutely SURE it was her?" 

"Yeah boss, trust me, it was her...said her name was Pandora'n'everything, she uh-well she doesn't know about the bounty on her head but that might change soon." Angel tensed up as he felt himself slip deeper into the lie with every word, lucky enough for him Val seemed a little to eager to believe it.

"Well then, this is very good news, I'll make a few calls and get the word out." Val took out his phone and began texting to someone, as Angel continued to star nervously at the closet. "Thanks to you, that overblown idiot will have his stupid bride before the end of the day if things go well." He added, pushing Angel out of the way as he headed over to the door, eager to get out of this place now that he'd gotten what he needed. 

"Just uhm-happy to help...sir." Angel said meekly, just as eager for him to leave.

"Oh and Angel cakes~". Val called to him as he stood in the doorway. "Don't think you're not still in trouble for leaving work early, we'll be talking about how you can make this up to me later."

With that the door slammed shut, and silence once again filled the small studio apartment, giving the spider demon a chance to breath, he hadn't even realized that he'd been holding his breath, if he had a heart-it would be pounding in his chest.  
He couldn't believe what he'd just done, he'd lied, he'd actually lied to Valentino!? What the fuck was he thinking?! There was no way he could keep a secret like that forever, what if someone had seen Angel sneaking the kid into the building? What if Val found out that he'd been hiding her right under his nose?! What if-

The sound of the closet door slowly creaking open broke Angel out of his mild-panic attack for a few moments.

He took a deep breath before looking over to the closet door.

Seeing Pandora standing there glaring at him with angry tears in her eyes.


End file.
